The inventive concept relates to methods of manufacturing a solar cell module.
Copper-indium-gallium-selenium (CIGS) thin film solar cells may be higher in efficiency than amorphous silicon solar cells. Additionally, an initial deterioration phenomenon may not occur in the CIGS thin film solar cells, such that these may have a relatively high stability. Thus, various techniques have been developed for commercialization of the CIGS thin film solar cells. The CIGS thin film solar cells may be replaced with single-crystal solar cells because of lightness and high efficiency thereof. The CIGS thin film solar cells may be capable of being used in space. The CIGS thin film solar cells may have the electricity generation amount per unit weight of about 100 W/kg. Thus, the CIGS thin film solar cells may have more excellent efficiency than silicon or GaAs solar cells having the electricity generation amount per unit weight of about 20 W/kg to about 40 W/kg. Currently, the CIGS thin film solar cells may have the efficiency of about 20.3% in a single junction structure. Thus, the CIGS thin film solar cells may have a capacity substantially equal to the maximum efficiency (e.g., about 20%) of an existing poly-crystalline silicon solar cells.
In spite of the above advantages, the CIGS thin film solar cells may have low productivity. Since CIGS thin film solar cell modules may be generally formed through various steps of vacuum processes, the CIGS thin film solar cell modules may have high manufacture cost and low mass productivity. The CIGS thin film solar cell module may include a lower electrode, a light absorption layer, and a window electrode that are sequentially stacked on a substrate. The window electrode may include a transparent electrode layer having a thickness of several micrometers to several tens micrometers. The transparent electrode layer may be formed by a sputtering method.
However, when the transparent electrode layer having the thickness of several micrometers or more is deposited by the sputtering method, the time required for the deposition process may increase. Thus, the productivity of solar cell modules may be decrease. Additionally, the long times of the deposition process may cause an increase of manufacture cost of the solar cell modules.